The evening after my group returned to the fort with the young chimera’s corpse, I snuck in again, as was my usual routine. I watched the humans inside the fort, listening to them speak. I could manage to follow along on the simpler conversations now, but not many of the conversations I eavesdropped on were so simple that I could understand everything they were talking about. Not that I was interested in what they were saying, as I was listening in solely for my own purposes.

I heard much talk about increased bandit activity and missing hunters, and inferred that they were referring to the camp in the forest that hunted the other humans.

They also talked about something they called a devil, which seemed to be a strong beast living in the forest that scared people even more than the trolls. These discussions piqued my interest, as I had not yet come across this creature.

I wondered just how it is that I could exist in the same forest as this devil creature and not have come across it.

But, wait… That one time, wasn’t there something odd? The first troll I killed. Something snapped one of its femurs to suck out the marrow, a feat which I can now achieve, but only with great difficulty.

I got excited just thinking about it.

This devil monster must be quite the master of stealth to have gone unnoticed by me. I wonder what I could gain by eating it.

Once the night’s activities had wound down, I snuck out once more and resumed my normal routine, flying about and doing some late night hunting.

The next morning, I set out in time to see my group leave the fortress town. They seemed to have more energy today than usual, and barely reacted to my presence. Maybe they were getting used to me watching them? Perhaps I could mess with them a bit so I could enjoy seeing their reactions.

I thought about how to mess with them as I followed their path through the forest, not paying much attention to what else was going on.

While I was distracted with coming up with and subsequently discarding potential pranks, the bandits made their move to encircle my group. There were a dozen of them, and they completely surrounded my little group.

Vee had noticed the bandits and notified the rest, as they took up a defensive formation. They seemed tense and anxious, as the bandits closed in with weapons drawn.

The bandits were trying to hunt them?

They were exchanging words, but I could not focus on them.

They were trying to take my group?

Did they not know the consequence of trying to take from one that stands above you?

Did they not know that these ones were mine?

They’re mine!

MINE!

“MIIIIIINE!”

As usual, Vee was on edge because of that damned, persistent presence. While she could tell roughly the direction it was coming from, she simply could not pinpoint its location, even after all this time. It felt like it was mocking her.

Still, she was professional enough to push that to the side when traveling in a potentially dangerous area, and keep her senses sharp to detect dangers. Her pride as a woodsman and a hunter demanded it.

Yet, this time, it didn’t help. These guys were pretty good. By the time she detected them, they were already closing in from multiple directions.

“Guys, trouble,” she whispered to her comrades. “We’re surrounded. I think it's the bandits everyone has been talking about lately. At least ten.”

They continued to walk forward, but Grix moved up to take the lead while Sil and Sul trailed behind Vee and Trella and off to each side. They readied themselves to draw weapons at any moment.

“Hohohoho, you guys are quite good!” A tall, rail thin, rat of a man stepped out from behind a tree, with an axe casually leaning against his shoulder and a cruel sneer on his face. “But it’s no use. You’re outnumbered and surrounded. Drop your weapons and strip off your armor, and we might just let you go free. Although, I’m sure the ladies wouldn’t mind keeping us company first, right?”

As he spoke, more bandits stepped into line of sight, most of them carrying crossbows that they held trained on the fighters.

Before Vee could respond to the bandit, she became aware of a rapidly rising growl that sent a familiar chill down her spine. The presence that she’d distantly felt up until now, it seemed to be wildly fluctuating. She glanced at Trella, who only nodded in response. The presence rapidly became palpable and oppressive, rising in time with the volume of that malicious, rumbling growl.

The bandits began to look around in trepidation. Even they could sense it now.

The growling stopped for a moment, and then came a thick, gravelly voice that resonated with a fury that clawed at the primal centers of the brain.

“MIIIIIINE!”

In a flash, of blurred movement, two of the crossbowmen disappeared in a spray of gore. In their place stood a terrifying beast. It stood on two legs, with a long reptilian tail behind it that was tipped with vicious looking quills. Its hide smoothly transitioned from black fur along its limbs and joints to dark green and red scales over the rest of its body. Blood dripped from the wickedly sharp claws on both its hands which hung from its long arms. Its face was broad, with a slight muzzle, and was an odd mix of reptilian and mammalian features that made a cohesive whole, while having an element of something completely alien and aberrant to it. The eyes themselves seemed human, but with an animalistic cast to them. Its posture was similar to the way Sil and Sul carried themselves, but more hunched over, and with a decidedly feral edge to it. Yet, even hunched over, it was nearly as tall as Grix, who was himself a good eight and a half feet tall.

Nobody seemed able to move a muscle as it stood there, glaring at those who would dare offend it. While it felt like they stood there for several minutes, staring in shock, it was only a bit more than a second before the beast made its next move.

It leapt at the next nearest bandits, a cluster of three, and seemed to just wind right through and past them, its tail lazily flicking at each one as it passed. The three bandits stayed frozen in place, and began to shake violently while remaining locked in the same pose.

Vee spotted the quills sticking out of their legs and necks, and her eyes widened in shock. They looked remarkably like quills from a wyvern's tail.

At this point, everyone finally began to move. Grix, Sil and Sul pulled in tight around Vee and Trella, and they all drew their weapons, preparing to defend themselves. The bandits with crossbows fired wildly. Some at the beast, some at their original targets. Most went wide, except for a single bolt that embedded itself in one of Grix’s massive shoulders.

The beast pounced on another bandit, barely stopping to tear her abdomen open with a single hand before throwing himself at the next in line, who happened to be the pompous leader. He seemed to still be processing the events of the last few seconds, as he only turned to run moments before the beast was upon him. It grabbed him by the back of the neck and slammed his face into the trunk of a tree with such force that his skull was crushed like a rotten melon.

With over half their numbers dead, the remaining bandits dropped their weapons and turned to flee. This seemed to enrage the beast even further, as it let out another angry roar, and bounded after them.

Seeing their chance to escape, Vee silently gestured and urged the group to flee in the opposite direction. They could hear the screams and growls continue for a minute as they ran, and they dared not stop or slow until they had returned to the fort. When Trella couldn’t keep up the pace any longer, Grix picked her up and carried her.

No words were shared the entire way.

Once I finally calmed myself down, the last bandit was dead. I was caked in blood and viscera. I could sense my group running back towards the fortress town. They all seemed to be relatively unhurt, although I could smell a bit of the dire human’s blood.

Well, I seemed to have made a bit of a mess. The whole area reeked of blood and fear. It would only be right for me to clean it up. I wouldn’t want to just leave corpses laying around the forest. I gathered up the bodies of the ones I’d run down, and began to trudge back to the spot where the rest had died. I dumped the two bodies on the ground, then stopped.

Two bodies? But five fled. Did some of them get away? No, I’m positive I killed them all. I remember stopping seven times to pick up all the pieces of the five humans.

It was at this point, I realized that my jaw was distended, and I had one of the two corpses I’d dropped on the ground sticking halfway out of my maw. I threw my head back and swallowed the remainder of the corpse. Well, regardless of how horrified it made that odd corner of my mind… I had killed them. It would be wrong of me not to consume them. Its not like they were as bad as those foul, filthy goblins. Besides, its not actually cannibalism, no matter how much those memories insist that it is.

I quickly finished eating the humans, then retired to my cave, feeling rather drowsy.